Catching up...

Dear Diary,

In the interest of brevity and avoiding putting everyone to sleep, I will summarize the events that have taken place so far in the expedition to start a new practice. If anyone has any specific questions about anything, feel free to ask in the comments section.

- While driving through the far North side of San Antonio, I identified a commercial development that interested me. It is in the middle of new residential and commercial growth. The center has very high visibility to a main highway. There are no other dentists with visibility to this highway for about 4-5 miles in either direction. Here is an artists rendering of the finished center:

The visibility, location, and esthetic of the development attracted me. I called the developer and got the basic information and toured the site.

- After some thought, I decided I would like to proceed with negotiating a lease. I was referred to a real estate broker by a fellow dentist. The broker represented me in negotiating the lease with the land lord. In addition, my attorney was involved in the lease negotiation. I highly recommend a real estate broker. There are many important issues that must be addressed in lease negotiations that a dentist will just not know about or understand. The land lord pays the real estate broker, so no fee is involved. Just find someone you trust yourself. Do not use the broker the land lord recommends.

- After some time, the lease terms were finalized. A security deposit was required so obviously, financing must be in place for this to occur.

- During the lease negotiations, I began working with Patterson Dental to come up with a office design and floor plan. This was changed and tweaked multiple times and is even still being revised to this day. My initial plan is to equip two operatories and have two others plumbed and ready to be equipped when needed. I began thinking about some of the details of the office like flooring, counter tops, cabinets, computers, dental software, etc. None of those details are finalized yet.

- Financing was secured through Bank of America Practice Solutions. They were also recommended by a fellow dentist. They specialize in 100% loans for practice start-ups and actually made it pretty easy, considering. I visited with some traditional banks and will probably end up refinancing the loan with a local bank after 1 year. Some banks are difficult to work with because a start up practice can not demonstrate cash flow. After one year, it is much easier for a traditional bank to lend money.

So that basically catches us up to where we are today. The lease was signed today and financing is in place and finalized.

As far as today goes, it was a relatively big day in the genesis of the new practice.

- I informed my current boss that I would be entering this venture and leaving in around three months. He was very understanding and let me know that I would be welcome to stay on part time while things get started at the new office. Once I informed him, I announced to friends & family about the new practice. A simple Facebook status update was extremely effective in doing this!

- I spent some time on the phone with the contractor discussing some of the details of the design and construction. I have some photographs of things I would like to incorporate into my office and I sent those to him to better communicate what I want. Just like working with a dental lab! He will be working up a bid over the next couple of days. I have received a bid from another contractor but will most likely be using the contractor who built the center. I am not obligated to do so but I feel he knows the building better than anyone. Let's hope his bid is competitive. My lease states that if at all possible, I should have my doors open in 3 months. The contractor says that if we get some details finalized by the end of the week, his construction time would be 10 weeks which is right on target. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!